Most people know the fairy tale of the Ugly Duckling. It is a simple, yet powerful metaphor for metamorphosis. In the case of this sketch, the name has a more a literal connotation: I had no intention of drawing a swan when I started the drawing. I was looking to make an inverted "Kalka"; but some miscalculated curves later, I had the option of the final drawing look like a very curvaceous bottle-gourd, or a swan. I went with the swan, and laughed when I was done: the would-have-been disaster of a sketch turned out to be a reasonable swan :-) Now if I had gone with the bottle-gourd tho, not sure how that would have looked! Talk about a blessing in disguise :-)
The only birds I've used in my drawings so far are illustrations of imaginary heavy-crested parrots, or the mythical Fire bird which I encountered in many a Russian folk tale that I read as a child. So I am glad to add another character to my repertoire of squiggles :-)
